Nationalism is transitory, the arts are here to stay

Scots’ fears have been laid to rest by a programme long on talent and short on propaganda

There had been grave concern among Scotland's art lovers that one of the country's most cherished cultural treasures, the Edinburgh International Festival, was about to succumb to political pressure.

When the dreaded word "Homecoming" popped up on the EIF's website last year, alongside a message entreating festival-goers to "take part in a celebration of culture and heritage", many, this columnist included, feared the worst.

The integrity of this jewel in the nation's artistic crown had been compromised by nationalist propaganda, it would become nothing more than an upmarket exercise in Caledonian navel-gazing.

Partly dependent on public subsidy and obliged to promote Scottish works in return for extra funds, the festival director would have no option but to capitulate to nationalist notions of culture.

In a political climate where the culture minister believes it is the artistic community's remit to advance "aspirations for constitutional change", that was bad news indeed. In